ISPs were happy to put a spotlight Thursday on the FCC's
latest broadband speed report, which showed major improvement over an already
generally solid track record of delivering on advertised speeds.
The National Cable & Telecommunications Association,
which participated in the speed tests on which the survey was based, blogged
about the results Thursday: "'[C]able [broadband] technology has a daily
24-hour average speed of slightly over 100 percent of advertised rates.' While
the above statement may sound like an ad for cable broadband services, it
actually comes from the FCC's most recent report analyzing performance of the
largest Internet Service Providers (ISP) in America. Based on rigorous
third-party testing, the Commission has again confirmed that consumers across
the U.S. consistently are receiving faster and more robust cable broadband
service."
The FCC credited the rollout of DOCSIS 3.0 for being part of
the reason for the boost in speed and performance.
NCTA pointed out that across both peak and nonpeak periods,
the study found cable delivered 102.7% of advertised download speeds -- the
figure was 99% for peak periods. It also pointed out that cable operators
delivered 110% of advertised upload speeds at peak periods.
"The report represents a continuation of the successful
collaboration between FCC staff, the FCC's contractor (SamKnows), and broadband
providers," said NCTA.
The study found that AT&T delivered on 87% of its
advertised speed at peak periods, up from 81% in 2011.
"Today's report from the FCC demonstrates that consumers
continue to get the broadband Internet access speeds they are paying for, that
the speeds offered to consumers are increasing and that consumers are moving to
these faster broadband speed tiers," said AT&T in a statement.
"Overall, it is abundantly clear that American consumers are getting
high-quality broadband services from their Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
This success is driven by policies that enable the Internet's consumer driven
growth with minimal government intervention, allowing private investment to
build broadband IP infrastructure necessary for America's economy, innovation
and global competitiveness."
Verizon was at that 87% mark as well, a slight uptick from
86% in 2011.
"Verizon's FiOS service continues to demonstrate its mastery
of broadband speed, reliability and consistency for consumers as represented in
today's FCC-SamKnows residential broadband report, "Measuring Broadband in
America July 2012,'" said Mike Ritter, chief marketing officer for
Verizon's consumer and mass market business unit. "The FCC's findings
reaffirm the results from the 2011 report, which found that FiOS provides
blazing-fast and sustained upstream and downstream speeds even during peak
usage periods."
